This was no accident, as there were no confrontations to report on
this front between Sanders and his opponents, Clinton and former
Maryland governor Martin O’Malley. None of them voiced any opposition to
the global eruption of American militarism, the drone assassination
program, or the successive campaigns for regime-change from Libya, to
Syria to Ukraine.Clinton postured as the most qualified to occupy
the position of “commander-in-chief” based on her “many hours in the
situation room, advising President Obama.” This record includes her role
in orchestrating the right-wing 2009 coup in Honduras, which plunged
that country into unprecedented repression and violence, contributing to
the waves of refugees heading to the US border.She was a
principal advocate of the US-NATO war for regime-change in Libya that
killed tens of thousands and threw the North African country into a
state of permanent civil war. She famously gloated over the lynch mob
murder of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, boasting, “We came, we saw, he
died.” And she was among those who pushed hardest for Washington to arm
and finance the so-called rebels as proxies in the war for regime-change
in Syria, which gave rise to the Islamic State of Iraqi and Syria
(ISIS).Sanders said not a word about this bloody and criminal
record. In response to Clinton’s defense of the Obama administration’s
and her own policies, he declared, “I agree with most of what she said.”
Asked whether their policies in Syria had contributed to the growth of
ISIS, he answered flatly, “No.” Obama, he said, “is doing the right
thing” in the Iraq-Syria war.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016. Chaos and violence continue, the United
Nations notes abuses by the Iraqi government and by the Islamic State
which the press rushes to reduce to abuses by the Islamic State, and
much more.

Today, the US Defense Dept announced:

Strikes in Iraq

Attack, fighter, and remotely
piloted aircraft conducted 21 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in
support of the Iraqi government:

-- Near Huwayjah, a strike struck an ISIL headquarters.

-- Near Kisik, two strikes produced inconclusive results.

-- Near Mosul, five strikes struck
an ISIL tactical unit and an ISIL headquarters and destroyed an ISIL
heavy machine gun, four ISIL fighting positions, and an ISIL cash
collection point.

-- Near Qayyarah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed three ISIL fighting positions.

-- Near Sinjar, three strikes
struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions,
an ISIL heavy machine gun, and an ISIL assembly area.

Task force officials define a
strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same
geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect.
Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single
weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is a strike, but so is multiple
aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and
weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect
of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use.
Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of
aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each
strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a
target.

On the topic of air strikes, a new United Nations [PDF format warning] notes:

On 22-23 May, UNAMI/OHCHR received a report that airstrikes hit
al-Najjar, al-Rifai and Sahaa areas in western Mosul in Ninewa,
allegedly killing 30 civilians and wounding 62 others, including women
and children. UNAMI/OHCHR was not able to verify this report.On 3 June, an explosion due to an airstrike in Kirkuk's Hawija
district allegedly killed several ISIL fighters and civilians. Some
reports indicated that the structure was a storage facility for chemical
fertilizers, while others reported that the warehouse was being used to
build vehicle-borne IEDs. A member of the Kirkuk Provincial Council
was quoted by multiple local sources as stating that around 150
individuals, including women and children, were allegedly killed and
wounded in the blast. Pictures and videos have emerged in media and
online showing an area purporting to be the blast site that has been
almost completely flattened. UNAMI/OHCHr was not able to verify the
authenticity of the photos or the videos, nor the number of civilian
casualties.On 8 June, local sources reported that an airstrike in Mosul, Ninewa,
caused 33 civilians casualties. The report alleged that several
residential neighbourhoods in al-Zuhour district were hit, killing 20
civilians, including seven children and nine women, and wounding 13
others, mostly women. The source claimed that there were no ISIL
members in the affected neighbourhoods. UNAMI/OHCHR was unable to verify
the status of all the casualties nor who was responsible for the
airstrikes.On 11 June, an airstrike reportedly hit an ISIL target near a market
in Hawija, Kirkuk. According to a source, 10 civilians were killed and
wounded in the incident. Other reports mentioned more than 60 civilians
killed and over 80 wounded. UNAMI/OHCHR was unable to verify the exact
number of casualties nor who was responsible for the airstrike. [In an
article published by the Associated Press, a US Air Force official
acknowledged the Hawija airstrike was by US forces, with no confirmation
of civilian casualties. (accessed 11 June 2015).]
On 23 June, a house was allegedly targeted by an airstrike in Baiji
district, Salah al-Din, which killed six civilians (including four
children) and wounded eight others. The house was reported to have been
located close to a mosque which, at the time of the attack, was
occupied by ISIL. A local source from Baiji stated that the house was
hit by mistake and that the target was the ISIL-occupied mosque. The
source however could not confirm who carried out the airstrike.According to a source, on 1 July, 17 civilians, including our
children and six women, were reportedly killed in an airstrike conducted
in the al-Rifaie area of western Mosul, Ninewa. 11 other civilians
were reportedly wounded. UNAMI/OHCHR was unable to verify the status of
all the casualties nor who was responsible for the airstrike.On 31 July, up to 40 civilians may have been killed and over 30
wounded when three houses allegedly sheltering IDPs was hit by airstrike
in Rutba, west of Ramadi, Anbar. Official sources confirmed the
incident and the number of casualties, which included 18 women and 11
children (under 14 years old). The houses were targeted by military
jets after receiving information that ISIL elements were allegedly
inside the houses. The governor of Anbar called for an immediate
investigation of the incident. On 3 August, the Special Representative
of the Secretary-General (SRSG) in Iraq and Head of UNAMI issued a press
release expressing serious concern at the reported airstrike, and
called on the Government of Iraq to investigate the incident.On the afternoon of 18 August, a man and his 12 year-old daughter
were reportedly killed when an airstrike hit al-Minassa street, northern
Mosul. The airstrike allegedly targeted a vehcile carrying three
assistants to ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and a judge of an ISIL
self-appointed court, who were all killed. Around midnight on 24
August, an airstrike targeted a vehicle carrying ISIL elements in the
Majmoua Thaqafiya area of northern Mosul. The atack reportedly killed
nine civilians, including one woman and a child, and wounded three other
civilians.In the early morning of 1 August, military jets allegedly carried out
airstrikes in Zargali village, Warti sub-district of Rawanduz district,
Erbil Governorate. The airstrikes killed at least eight invdividuals
and wounded 16. Zargali village is home to around 27 families.
According to witnesses interviewed by UNAMI/OHCHR after the attacks,
their village was attacked by Turkish military jets on suspicion that
combatants from PKK or the Kurdish Workers' Party were present in the
area. However, they denied this and indicated that PKK combatants
reside in a camp in the Qandil mountains. The interviewees added that
four different attacks occured on 1 August (from 3h50 a.m. to 6h35
a.m.). The first attack reportedly consisted of two strikes; the second
attack consisted of a single strike; the third and fourth consisted of
four rockets each which hit simultaneously. After the initial attacks,
some residents left their homes and sought shelter in a nearby farm.
However, witnesses alleged that the ensuing attacks were directed at
them and other fleeing residents. Some individuals who tried to assist
those wounded were killed or wounded by the later attacks. The attacks
destroyed six houses and killed farm animals.On 3 September an airstrike hit a bridge in Jazeera al-Khaldiya,
around 20 kilometres east of Ramadi, Anbar, killing 46 civilians and
wounding 20. Another source confirmed the incident but stated that the
casualties were ISIL members. UNAMI/OHCHR was not able to confirm the
number of casualties or their status. On the same day, another
airstrike reportedly hit a residential area in easter Ramadi, killing 28
civilians. A single source reported this second incident and
UNAMI/OHCHR was unable to verify it.In the early morning of 20 September, an airstrike hit the al-Ghabat
area of Mosul city, as a result of which five civilians (including two
women and one girl) from one family were killed. The family members
were inside their homes at the time, which was close to an ISIL
headquarters. When thatheadquarters
was
hit,
weapons
and
other
equipment
inside
exploded,
causing
damage
to
nearby
homes
and
killing
the
family.
Other
sources
reported
that
four
civilian
died
in
the
attack
(a
48-year-old
man,
a
20-year-old
man,
a
37-year-old
woman,
and
a
13-year-old
girl)
while
two
civilians
were
seriously
wounded
. On
29
September,
an
airstrike
was
reported
to
have
hit
the
former
Sunni
endowment
building
next
to
the
Ninewa
Governorate
building,
in
central
Mosul.
According
to
some
sources,
the
attack
allegedly
killed
eight
civilians
(including
two
women)
in
addition
to
19
ISIL
fighters.
Around
10
minutes
later,
as
civilians
were
gathering
in
the
area,
another
airstrike
allegedly
hit
the
same
location,
killing
12
civilians
(including
two
children
and
a
woman)
and
wounding
seven,
some
critically.
Other
sources
reported
higher
casualty
figures. On
5
October,
an
airstrike
mistakenly
targeted
a
civilian
house
in
Atshana
village,
east
of
Hawija
and
southwest
of
Kirkuk
,
that
belonged
to
the
Mukhtar
of
the
village,
killing
eight
persons
from
the
same
family,
including
several
women
and
children and
the
Mukhtar
himself.
At
10h30
a.m.
on
20
October,
seven
civilians
were
killed
-- including
three
women
and
two
children
-- and
one
was
seriously
wounded
when
the
minibus
in
which
they
were
travelling
was
hit
by
an
airstrike.
The
victims
were
all
members
of
one
family
and
were
travelling
from
al-Qawsiyat
village
in
Wana
sub-district,
Tal
Kaif
district,
to
Mosul.

The report's getting some attention. THE ATLANTIC notes:Thousands of civilians in Iraq have been killed, maimed, or displaced over the last two years, according to a new United Nations report.
Between the start of 2014 and October 31 of last year, 18,802 Iraqis
were killed, 36,245 were wounded, and 3.2 million were displaced.
Islamic State fighters have enslaved about 3,500 others, mainly women
and children, and forced hundreds of children to fight alongside the
group’s militants.

The violence has also displaced more than 3 million people, a full third of them school-age children, the report says.It
also documents a litany of abuses and human rights violations, whether
at the hands of Islamic State or the sectarian militiamen fighting
alongside the government to reclaim areas under the Sunni extremist
group’s control.

Iraqi forces and militia members battling the Islamic State group are
allegedly responsible for abuses against civilians that have contributed
to the chaos in the war-torn nation over a nearly two-year period,
according to a new U.N. report.
Violence in the country has surged since the Islamic State group's rise
in 2014: A U.S.-led coalition has been battling the extremists primarily
through airstrikes, while security forces and militia members have
waged a war further inflamed by sectarian tensions on the ground.
According to Tuesday's report
from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, nearly
19,000 civilians have been killed and another 36,000 have been wounded
in Iraq between January of 2014 and the end of October last year, with
the Islamic State group bearing much of the blame.

Let's go to the report itself because truth is always the best protection from propaganda:

Violations and abuses committed by pro-Government forcesUNAMI/OHCHR has received reports of abuses and violations of human
rights and violations of international humanitarian law perpetrated by
pro-Government forces.ISF and associated forces are bound to respect applicable
international humanitarian law in the conduct of military operations.
UNAMI/OHCHR continues to receive information that some military
operations appear to have directly targeted civilians and civilian
infrastructure or were carried out without taking all feasible
precautions to protect the civilian population and civilian objects.
Reports received by UNAMI/OHCHR also indicate that some associated
forces have been operating largely outside of Government control and
have perpetrated abuses against civilians, including killings,
abductions and destruction of property.

Iraqi forces and their actions include:

Police raids and arbitrary arrestsUNAMI/OHCHR received reports of IDPs, mostly from Kirkuk city, who
were able to access safe areas but were subjected to arbitrary arrests
in raids by security forces. For example, on 3 June, security forces in
Kirkuk conducted a raid in the Wahad Huzairan neighbourhood in Kirkuk
city and arrested 71 IDPs on suspicion of terrorism or trespassing
public grounds. The arrested individuals were from Salah al-Din, Anbar,
Basra, Diyala and Baghdad. Such raids and arrests were frequent in the
southern neighborhoods of Kirkuk city where there was a large number of
IDPs. The arrested individuals were oftentimes released after a day or
two in detention.On 16 July, security forces in Kirkuk conducted a raid in the
Khadhra'a area, in the southwest part of the city. Reportedly conducted
as a precautionary measure, the raid took place the eve of the Eid
holidays. Seventy-nine individuals were arrested, most of whom were
IDPs residing in Kirkuk city. The security authorities allegedly had
received information about suspected terrorist activities before and
during Eid holidays. Seventy-nine individuals allegedly had received
information about suspected terrorist activities before and during Eid
holidays. The arrested individuals were released within two days and
without any charge.On 27 August, police forces conducted a raid in al-Askari
neighbourhood, in the southeast of Kirkuk, and arrested 53 individuals,
most of whom were IDPs. They were detained in Domiz polic station and
were released after a security screening and background check.On 1 September, 42 individuals, most of whom were IDPs, were arrested
during a raid in the Wahed Huzairan neighbourhood, a predominatly Sunni
Arab area in Kirkuk city. A total of 31 individuals were arrested for
not being registered, not having identification documents, or having
fake documents. Eleven others were reportedly wanted for suspected
affiliation with ISIL.On 22 September, security forces conducted a raid in Quriya area of
Kirkuk city. According to sources, the raid was conducted in
neighbourhoods close to the Kirkuk government building, including
Quriya, Shatorlu, Ommal Square, Almas and Sahat Tayran. A total of 68
IDPs from different governorates were arrested, with a significant
proportion coming from Tuz district in Salah al-Din. They were arrested
for various reasons, including illegal entry into Kirkuk, failure to
register with the Ministry of Displacement and Migration (MoDM), and
failure to present proper identification. Another source stated that
security concerns prompted the raid based on the proximity of a large
number of IDPs to the Kirkuk government building. According to security
sources, all 68 were released on 22-23 September.

The report also notes:

Unlawful killingsUNAMI/OHCHR received a number of serious allegations of unlawful
killings committed by ISF and associated forces. These incidents
included alleged attacks and reprisals against persons believed or
perceived to support or to be associated with ISIL.For example, on 9 June, a video was posted in social media showing a
group of men, wearing what appeared to be Iraqi Federal Police uniforms,
burning a cadaver and shouting sectarian chants. Sources informed
UNAMI/OHCHR that the corpse was found near al-Alam sub-district in Salah
al-Din, during the operations to liberate Tikrit, in February. In the
video, those seeting fire to the body were heard saying the deceased's
name and that he was a Saudi citizen. They were also heard saying that
this was a gift for the people of al-Hasa and Qatif (areas in Saudi
Arabia where there are a significant number of Shi'a Muslims).In a similar incident, a video was posted online purporting to show
members of the Shi'a Imam Ali Brigades burning the body of a man hanging
by his feet in the town of Garma, northeast of Fallujah, in Anbar. In
the video the perpetrators accused the man of being a member of ISIL.
According to a local source, the video was shot in the town of Garma.
According to another local source, the man killed was a member of ISIL
from Fallujah. UNAMI/OHCHR could not independently verify the incident
nor the authenticity of the video.

And it notes:

AbductionsUNAMI/OHCHR received reports of abductions allegedly perpetrated by pro-Governmnet forces against Sunni tribes or individuals.For instance, on 16 July, a group of Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) members
entered Jalludiyat village in Dujail district in Tikrit in Salah
al-Din, and abducted 12 civilians from the Kharzraj tribe (which is a
Sunni tribe) reportedly due to a tribal conflict between two families.
The brother of a tribal leader was among those abducted.On 17 July, unidentified armed men abducted a civilian in the
al-Askari area of Tuz Khurmatu district in Salah al-Din. The victim was
a Sunni Arab IDP from Sulaiman Beg sub-district, south of Tux Khurmatu.
On 18 July, unidentified armed men abducted another civilian in the
al-Askari area. The second victim was also an IDP from the Sunni Arab
community from Hilewat village in Tuz Khurmatu district. Sources
strongly asserted to UNAMI/OHCHR that militia members were behind both
these abductions.On 28 July, armed militia members abducted three civilians on the
main road between Abu Saida sub-district and Baquba. The victims were
Sunni Arabs from the Zuherat tribe and included the son of a tribal
leader.On 1 September, armed militia members wearing black uniforms stopped
police and army vehicles that were transporting at least 40 detainees,
all Sunni Arabs from Salah al-Din. The militia stopped the convoy near
Balad district, Salah al-Din, after firing warning shots into the air
and at the tires of the vehicles. They then physically assaulted an
disarmed the security forces. The abductees have been arrested in June
for terrorism-related offenses and had been detained in the Brigade 17
Iraqi Army detention centre in Dujail, Salah al-Din. Reports further
stated that, at the time of their abduction, the detainees were being
transferred to Baghdad.In the early morning of 27 September, a convoy of 20 pick-up trucks
carrying masked gunmen in military uniform arrived in the Alb-Tua'ma
area of Hujjaj village, in Baiji district, Salah al-Din, and forcibly
took at least 28 civilians from the area -- which is inhabited by
members of the al-Jubour tribe. The victims were all males from the
al-Jubour tribe. A source indicated that they were taken in a
systematic manner, based on a list of names produced according to
intelligence and security information. All abductees allegedly had
current or past affiliation with ISIL or family connections associated
with ISIL. Other sources reported that the masked gunmen who took the
civilians were militia.On 22 October, PMUs abducted at least 175 civilians from the Askari
and Tin areas of Tuz Khurmatu district, Salah al-Din. The victims were
Sunni Arabs, who had been displaced to Tuz Khurmatu since June 2014.
The operation started at sunset, with people grabbed during
house-to-house searches and in the streets, taken to PUMs facilities in
Sulaiman Beg and Yengija village, and kept there for two days for
questioning. On 23 October, the bodies of three abductees (a Police
officer and two civilians) were reportedly found in the Askari area.
Around 130 of the abductees were released; the others remained captive
at the time of reporting. The operation was conducted without arrest
warrants or coordination with local authorities.

There's more and we'll be noting a little bit more tomorrow.

But it's past time to grow the hell up.

The mock outrage over ISIL's actions?

Tonight ABC aired a Marvel
promo for an hour -- Captain America at 75. And it included a million
and one lies. Chief among them, how brave it was for Captain America --
the comic book hero -- to take on Adolf Hitler.

It's a comic book hero.

It's not a person.

More importantly, a magazine decrying a foreign leader is always easy to
do -- especially when the domestic government is against the foreign
leader.

They also wanted praise, please note, for taking on Richard Nixon.

But Nixon wasn't shown in the comic book. And our 'witness' told us
that everyone knew it was Nixon even though Nixon wasn't shown.

Again, it's easy to slime a foreign leader. (When they're despised --
justifiably so in the case of Hitler -- it's even easier.) Guts might
have been showing Richard Nixon when Captain America was decrying him --
guts for the artists doing the comic but not for the comic book hero
who, again, is not a real person.

The Islamic State is a terrorist organization.

Documenting their abuses should be easy and something anyone can do without any great ethical challenge.

The United Nations report notes consistent patterns of abuse by the Iraqi government.

That needs to be spotlighted, it needs to be front and center.

You do not excuse away a government committing crimes against its own civilians.

You do not act as though that's nothing or that it's a sidebar.

It is the prime story.

Again, the Islamic State is a terrorist organization.

As such it commits crimes against people -- that's what makes it a terrorist organization.

The Iraqi government is supposed to serve (and protect) all the Iraqi people.

When it instead targets its own people, that is news.

The failure to properly report this goes a long way towards the growing
divide between Arabs and others. Arabs watched from 2010 on forward as
the Iraqi government openly targeted Sunnis. They saw little to no
objection to this persecution.

The United Nations puts out a report that documents crimes by a
terrorist organization (ISIS) and crimes against Sunnis by the Iraqi
government and the western media again ignores the crimes of the Iraqi
government or offers a brief sotto voice aside.

This is not acceptable.

It is silencing those suffering at the hands of the Iraqi government.

It is saying that Arabs are disposable and crimes against them can be ignored.

The most important piece of journalism on Iraq today is by Ahmed Rasheed and Saif Hameed (REUTERS) and it opens:Iraq's parliament
suspended its meeting on Tuesday amid protests by Sunni Muslim MPs over
violence that targeted their community in eastern Iraq and left dozens
killed in apparent retaliation for anti-Shi'ite bombings claimed by
Islamic State.Sunni
lawmakers urged Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to disband and disarm the
Shi'ite militias which they accuse of being behind the latest attacks
in and around the town of Muqdadiya, 80 kilometres (50 miles) northeast
of Baghdad.Raad al-Dahlaki and
Nahida al-Daini, two Sunni MPs from Diyala province where Muqdadiya is
located, said 43 people had been killed over the past week and nine
mosques fire bombed. Salah Muzahim, another MP, said the toll was over
40 dead.

The walk out is major news by itself. The reasons for it, the background there is even more important.

Nouri al-Maliki's second term as prime minister of Iraq (2010 to 2014)
is all about targeting Sunnis. As Hillary Clinton noted in Sunday's
Democratic Party debate, "If there is any blame to be spread around, it
starts with the prime minister of Iraq, who sectarianized his military,
setting Shia against Sunni."

This is not minor and the persecution continues under Haider al-Abadi.

It also needs to be noted that the militias are now the government. As prime minister, Haider has brought them into the fold.